Bristol Siddeley Engines Ltd (BSEL) was a British aero engine manufacturer. The company was formed in 1959 by a merger of Bristol Aero-Engines Limited and Armstrong Siddeley Motors Limited. In 1961 the company was expanded by the purchase of the de Havilland Engine Company and the engine division of Blackburn Aircraft. Bristol Siddeley was purchased by Rolls-Royce Limited in 1966.

History

Bristol Siddeley Engines Limited was formed by the 1 April 1959 merge of Bristol Aero-Engines and Armstrong Siddeley Motors. These were the aero engine manufacturing companies of the Bristol Aeroplane Company and the Hawker Siddeley Group. The share capital of Bristol Siddeley was held in equal proportions by these two parent organisations. At around the same time Bristol's aircraft manufacturing was being subsumed into the British Aircraft Corporation along with those of English Electric and Vickers-Armstrong. Armstrong Siddeley Motors had been producing aero-engines and motor-cars since it had been formed in 1919 with the merger of Siddeley-Deasy and the Armstrong Whitworth Company. Bristol Aero-Engines had been formed in 1920 when the Bristol Aeroplane Company had taken over the assets of the Cosmos Engineering Company. On 6 May 1958 Bristol Siddeley Engines Limited was formed as a pilot company to bring about an alliance between the Bristol and Coventry concerns, and a full merger took effect from the beginning of April 1959. The purpose of the new company was to combine the research, engineering and manufacturing resources of the two great component companies to meet the changing demands of the aviation industry. The company was further strengthened in November 1961 when it acquired the full share capital of the de Havilland Engine Company Limited and Blackburn Engines Limited, both of which were formerly operating within the Hawker Siddeley Group. The aircraft side of Blackburn became part of Hawker Siddeley. Both of these companies had long histories in the aero-engine industry. The de Havilland Engine Company Limited had the de Havilland Sprite which was a rocket engine with a military type test certificate. In 1954, the company had produced the axial turbojet Gyron of 30000 lbf thrust, from which was descended the Gyron Junior series. The de Havilland Engine Company's portfolio included the (licensed) Gnome turboshaft. The Blackburn Aeroplane and Motor Company had entered the aero engine field in 1934 when the Cirrus-Hermes Engineering Company became part of the Blackburn and this became the Engine Division of Blackburn Aircraft and subsequently Blackburn Engines Limited. In 1952 an agreement was signed which enabled Blackburn Engines Limited to produce engines based on the Turbomeca range of small gas turbine engines. These were developed for use as airborne auxiliary power units for large aircraft and they were also used as a ground starter unit in the British services. Bristol Siddeley was bought by Rolls-Royce Limited in 1966 for £63.6 million in order to prevent competition from a planned collaboration between BSEL, Pratt & Whitney and Snecma. Bristol Siddeley retained its own identity and marketing organization. Bristol Siddeley Engines Limited is still a listed but dormant company within the Rolls-Royce group.

Products

The company was one of the largest of its kind in the world and offered a wider range of engines than any other manufacturer. Aero engines produced by the company included piston engines, turboprops, turboshafts, turbojets, turbofans, auxiliary power units, ramjets and liquid propellant rocket engines. Outside the aeronautical field its products were gas turbines for marine and industrial use, diesel engines, and automatic transmissions.

Aero engines

The Patchway factory in South Gloucestershire produced military aeroplane engines including the Olympus two-spool turbojet (from which the engine for Concorde was developed), the Orpheus turbojet for the Folland Gnat light fighter/trainer aircraft, the Pegasus two shaft medium bypass ratio vectored thrust turbofan for the Hawker Siddeley P.1127/Kestrel/Harrier VSTOL ground attack aircraft, the Proteus turboprop for the Bristol Britannia airliner and the Viper turbojet for the Hawker Siddeley HS.125. Bristol Siddeley had under development another vectored thrust turbofan, the "plenum chamber burner" (similar to an afterburner) equipped BS100, which was intended for the supersonic Hawker Siddeley P.1154 VSTOL fighter, but the project was cancelled in 1965. The two shaft BS143 was proposed for the MRCA (later the Tornado), but the takeover by RR caused the adoption of the three shaft RB199 instead. Hypersonics were explored in a shock tube near the High Altitude Test Plant (HATP) at Bristol, in support of BS1012 hypersonic engine thinking. High supersonic ramjets for long range defensive missiles were tested in the HATP (Ref TJ102 and TJ151/2).

Diesel engines

Bristol Siddeley also manufactured diesel engines under licence from the German company Maybach. These were for installation in British Rail Class 42 and Class 52 locomotives which were themselves based on licensed German designs but with as much British-built content as possible. The Maybach Diesel (MD) MD650, MD655 and MD870 series engines built by Bristol Siddeley were sophisticated in design, running at much higher speeds than normal diesels of their size and featured advanced construction such as a disc-webbed crankshaft that ran in large roller bearings, telescopic pipes to deliver cooling oil to the pistons and detachable piston crowns. The MD engines produced by BSEL included 16 basic engines in the range, which covered powers from 380 to 3,000 horsepower, and includes 4- and 6-cylinder in-line units, and 8, 12 and 16 V units. Each of these were pressure-charged, with or without intercooling. They were used with hydraulic transmission systems, in the Type 4 locos (with two MD650 engines of 1,152 bhp each) hauled the express trains of the Western Region of British Railways - e.g. the Bristolian and the Cornish Riviera. Several hundred more orders were placed by British Rail.(Ref TJ102). MD series engines were widely used in base load, intermittent and standby electricity generating sets, and were transported by rail up to the nominal 1200 kW size for a complete generator set. They were also employed in oil rigs and pumping sets.(Ref TJ151/2).

<!-- V16 1536-2880 hp, 5698-5969 kg. V12 1152-2160 hp, 4650-5044 kg V8 768-1440 hp, 3411-3639 kg Inline 6 567-670 hp, Inline 4 384-445 hp. BSEL Publication TJ151, 1962 (see Bibliography) includes the following Bristol Siddeley Engines and their applications :- TURBOFANS TURBOSHAFTS Marine Olympus : Frigates, hydrofoils, air cushion vehicles and planing craft ; Industrial Olympus : 15 Megawatt turbo-generator set ; Marine Proteus : HMS Brave class fast patrol boats, Vosper Ferocity fast patrol boat, Vosper Mercury express yacht, Fast patrol boats for the Federal German Navy and the Royal Danish Navy, Motor gun boats and motor torpedo boats for the Italian and Swedish Navies A special version of the Marine Proteus is used in Donald Campbell's Bluebird ; Industrial Proteus : 3 Megawatt turbo-generator sets ; de Havilland Gnome : Agusta Bell 101 G, Agusta Bell 204 B, Boeing/Vertol 107, Westland Wessex, Westland Whirlwind ; Nimbus : Westland Scout, Westland Wasp, Westland SR-N2 Hovercraft ; Turmo : Vickers Armstrongs VA 3 Hovercraft, Admiralty landing craft ; RAMJETS Bristol Thor : Bristol/Ferranti Bloodhound ground-to-air missile ; Bristol Odin (secret, so unpublished in 1962 : Hawker Siddeley Sea Dart long-range ship-to-air missile) ; ROCKET ENGINES Gamma : Black Knight space research vehicle ; PR 37 : Jindivik ; DIESEL ENGINES MD Series : British Transport Commission Type 3 and 4 locomotives, Brush Falcon locomotive, Blacktail fleet of trawlers, Vosper patrol boats for the Malayan Government, 1200 kW generator sets ; PISTON ENGINES (AERO) Blackburn Cirrus Bombardier Blackburn Cirrus Minor Blackburn Cirrus Major Blackburn Cirrus Midget Bristol Centaurus 18 cylinder sleeve valve radial, types 173 & 673 max takeoff 2850 BHP, SFC 0.44 lb/BHP/hr at 1720 BHP at 11500 ft, dia 1450 mm, wt 1540 kg : Blackburn Beverley, de Havilland Elizabethan, Hawker Sea Fury; Bristol Hercules 14-cylinder sleeve valve radial, Types 730, 750 & 790 Max takeoff 2040 BHP, SFC 0.435 lb/BHP/hr at 1215 BHP at 10750 ft : Bristol Freighter, CASA 207 Azor, Handley Page Hastings, Handley Page Hermes, Nord-Aviation Noratlas, Short Solent, Vickers Viking, Vickers Valetta, Vickers Varsity ; Over 70,000 built by 1960, with over 1 million flying hours per year from 1952 on. Bristol Cheetah 1932 7-cylinder radial, 300-475 hp.: Airspeed Consul, Envoy, Oxford, Queen Wasp, Viceroy. Argentine DL22. Avro Anson, Prefect, 626. CASA Alcotan. Handley Page Trainer. Hispano HS42. Hunting Percival Provost. Koolhoven Fk51 ; de Havilland Gipsy Major : Beagle-Auster Terrier, de Havilland Chipmunk, de Havilland Tiger Moth ; de H Gipsy Queen : de Havilland Dove, de Havilland Heron Gipsy Six : de Havilland Dragon Rapide Puma 1917, 6 cyl, inline water-cooled, 240 hp : Bristol Tourer, Trainer, Type 81. de Havilland 4, 9, and 50 ; Bristol Jupiter 1920, 9 cyl radial, 368-595 hp : Bristol badger, Bloodhound, Bulldog, Bullfinch, Ten seater and 118. de Havilland 61 and 66 Giant Moth. Dornier DOX. Handley Page Hinaidi, 42 and 45. Hawker Heron and Woodcock. Parnall Plover. Short Calcutta, Kent, Scylla and Springbok. Westland Wapiti and Weasel; Bristol Jaguar 1922 14 cyl 2-row radial, 300-480 hp, geared or not, supercharged or not : Armstrong Whitworth Ajax, Argosy, Atlas, Siskin, Starling Wolf. Avro 636 and 642. Blackburn Civil Biplane, Turcock. Fairey Flycatcher. Farman Goliath. Fokker C6, D16. Gloster Gnatsnapper and Grebe. Handley Page Hare. Hawker Danecock. Heinkel He VIII. Supermarine Nanok Flying Boat. Svenska Jaktfalk. Vickers Vespa; Cherub 1922 flat twin, 24-36 hp : Avro Avis. Beardmore Wee Bee. Bristol Brownie. Parnall Pixie. Short Satellite. Vickers Vagabond ; Bristol Lucifer 1923 3 cyl radial, 10-140 hp : Avro 504K. Bristol Lucifer Trainer and Taxiplane. Handley Page Hamlet ; Armstrong Siddeley Lynx 1925 7 cyl radial, 150-220 hp : Airspeed Courier. Avro 10, 504N, Commodore and Tutor. Blackburn Lincock. Canadian Vickes Vancouver, Vedette. Cierva Autogiro. Comte AC 11-V. de Havilland Hawk Moth. Fairchild FC2. Fokker F7. Piaggio P11. Supermarine Seamew. Svenska Pivat ; Bristol Mongoose 1926 5 cyl radial, 165 hp : Avro Gosport and Trainer. Fokker S4. Handley Page Gugnunc. Hawker Tomtit. Svenska Falken ; Serval 1926 Double Mongoose 10 cyl, 2-row radial, 365 hp : Armstrong Whitworth Atalanta. Saunders-Roe Saro Cloud ; Bristol Mercury 1926 9 cyl supercharged and geared radial, 540-890 hp : Bristol Blenheim, Britain First, Bulldog, Bullpup and 101. Gloster Gauntlet, Gladiator, and Gnatsnapper. Hawker F7/30 and Hoopoe. Miles Martinet and Master. Supermarine Sea Otter. Westland Lysander. Bristol Leopard 1928 14 cyl 2-row radial, 750 hp : Blackburn Iris. Hawker Dantorp, Horsley. Junkers J52 ; Neptune 1929 7 cyl radial, 315 hp : Bristol 110A ; Titan 1929 5 cyl radial, 220 hp : Bristol 83E (geared Titan). Fokker F-VIII B ; Genet 1929 5 cyl, or 7 cyl (Genet Major), radial, 80-140 hp : Avro Avian, Cadet, 61, 624, 625. Blackburn Bluebird. Canadian Vickers Vigil, Vista. Cierva Autogiro. de Havilland Moth. Junkers Junior. Saunders-Roe Cutty Sark. Westland Pterodactyl, Wessex ; Panther 1930 14 cyl 2-row radial, 600-750 hp : Armstrong Whitworth AW16, Scimitar. Avro 627 Mailplane. Fairey Gordon, Seal. Fokker CV. Hawker Fury (Norway). Junkers K43, W34. Westland Wapiti (South Africa) ; Draco 1932 9 cyl supercharged radial with direct petrol injection., 590 hp : Westland Wapiti ; Tiger 1932 14 cy 2-row radial, 750-880 hp : 1st prodn aero-engine in world with 2 stage supercharger. Armstrong Whitworth Ensign, Whitley, 29. Blackburn Ripon, Shark ; Bristol Perseus 1932 9 cyl sleeve valve radial, 580-905 hp : Blackburn Botha, Roc, Skua. Bristol Bulldog. de Havilland Flamingo. Hawker Hart. Short C class flying boats. Vickers Vellox and Wildebeeste. Westland Lysander ; Phoenix 1932 9 cyl radial with compression ignition, 485 hp : Westland Wapiti ; Pegasus 1932 9 cyl supercharged radial, 570-1010 hp: Boulton and Paul Overstrand. Bristol Bombay and 120. Fairey Swordfish. handley page Harrow. Hawker Hart. Short C class flying boats, Sunderland. Supermarine Walrus. Vickers Valentia, Wildebeeste, and Wellington. Westland Wallace ; Cheetah 1932 7 cyl radial, 300-475 hp : Airspeed Consul, Envoy, Oxford, Queen Wasp, Viceroy. Argentine DL22. Avro Anson, Prefect, 626. CASA Alcotan. Handley Page Trainer. Hispano HS42. Hunting Percival Provost. Koolhoven Fk51 ; Aquila 1934 9 cyl sleeve valve radial, 460-690 hp : Bristol Bulldog, Bullpup, and 143. Vickers Venom ; Taurus 1936 14 cyl 2-row sleeve valve radial, 1050–1065 hp : Bristol Beaufort and 148. Fairey Albacore ; -->

Motor cars

When the company was formed it also included the motor car companies Armstrong Siddeley Motors and Bristol Cars. It was soon decided to stop production of Armstrong Siddeley cars, as it was becoming uneconomic, with production of the only product, the Star Sapphire, ending in July 1960. In September 1960 Bristol Cars was sold. Subcontracted production of the Sunbeam Alpine sports car continued at Bristol Siddeley Engines in Coventry until 1962.

Sources